Last and first frost dates in Besançon

When is the last frost in Besançon?

The last frost in Besançon usually comes around 12 April: that is the median of 2016–2025, so in about half of those years the last night at or below 0 °C came later. Hardy crops start before it and frost-tender ones only after it: in the table below arugula can go into open ground from 22 March, while corn waits until 19 April. The first autumn frost follows around 18 November, about 220 days later: harvest or cover frost-tender crops before then.

When to sow and plant

Planting out: a week after the last frost once the soil is warm enough for the crop; frost-hardy crops three weeks before it; an unheated greenhouse three weeks earlier. Seedlings are sown so they are ready on that day. Each window starts on the Greenly calendar date and ends on the last day that still leaves the crop’s days to harvest (from its card) before the average first autumn frost, plus six weeks of picking for crops harvested over weeks (tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, courgettes, pumpkins, watermelons, beans) — our rule; earlier in the window is safer.

When the soil warms up in Besançon

The day the top 7 cm of soil first averages each temperature over a week, median of 2016–2025 (ERA5 via Open-Meteo). The soil reaches 10 °C 13 days before the last spring frost and 15 °C 34 days after it.

Frost dates near Besançon

Of the nearest cities on our list, the last spring frost ends earliest in Neuchâtel (29 March) and latest in Biel/Bienne (29 April).

Seeds, seedlings and markets in Besançon

Within 15 km of Besançon OpenStreetMap lists 9 garden centres, 1 farm-supply shop, 1 plant nursery, 7 markets and 11 farm shops (collected 27 October 2026). The nearest garden centre to the city centre is Boichard Horticulture, 2 km away.

• Boichard Horticulture — garden centre
  Chemin du Vernois 27 · 2 km
• Halles Beaux-Arts — Comptoirs Bisontins — market
  Tue–Thu 07:00–14:00; Fri, Sat 08:00–13:00; Sun 08:00–13:00; Mon closed · 1 km
• Légumes Bio des Sables — farm shop
  Tue, Fri 07:00–13:00, Thu, Sat 08:00–13:00, Fri, Sat 15:00–18:30 · 1 km · legumesbiodessables.fr
• Duboz Horticulture — garden centre
  Mon–Sat 08:30–12:00, 14:00–18:00; Sun 09:00–12:00 · 4 km · duboz-horticulture.fr
• Place de la révolution — market
  Tue, Fri 08:00–13:00 · 1 km
• La Ferme de Barband — farm shop
  Fri 16:00–19:00 · 6 km

• Where to buy seeds and seedlings in Besançon
• Selling your own harvest in France

Places: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.

Weather in Besançon by month

Average weather in Besançon over 2016–2025: the warmest month is August. Months that average 20 °C or more by day: June–September (21.5–25.7 °C). No month averages below 0 °C at night; the coldest nights, in January, average 0.2 °C. About 1252 mm of rain falls in a year, on 161 days; January is the wettest month (127 mm) and August the driest (78 mm).

Average of the daily highs and lows, rain per month and days with at least 1 mm (ERA5 via Open-Meteo, the same grid cell as the frost dates).

Planted in autumn

From a month before the first autumn frost, so the roots grow before winter, to the late-planting limit on each crop’s page (about two weeks before the ground freezes, by ten years of weather).